It's not a competition I follow all that closely but presumably after the next race there will be less than 100 points available won't there? Are you sure it's not that he needs 1 more point than his closest rival rather than 1 more point? Then it would make sense if only 87 points were available after the next race and he would be 88 points ahead.

No, I've seen it in a few reports on yesterdays race, including the BBC, that he's one point away from clinching the title.It anyway wouldn't make sense to mean one point more then his rivals, because even with less then that he's definitely won.

Well, sort of. Stoner could only tie the championship with Rossi if he won all remaining races and Rossi didnt get a point at any of them. So 3rd guarantees Rossi champion. 4th means joint champion at least. (No idea what they do in the event of a tie. Probably go to race wins. And Stoner would win on that 8-7!

I think that's how it works, which is why i said 4th isn't enough.Basically, if Stoner wins, Rossi would need 3rd place.If Stoner finishes second, Rossi needs 8th place (they could still tie on points and race wins, but Rossi would be ahead on second place finishes).If Stoner finishes 3rd, Rossi needs 12th place.If Stoner finishes 4th, Rossi needs 15th.If Stoner finishes lower, Rossi has it whatever.